It’s a promise she made the day her boyfriend died in a water park accident, one she still blames herself for. Now she’s a senior lifeguard in a new town with a new pool and she’s just going to keep her head down and everyone safe.

Until a mysterious guy follows her into the waves at the pre-season bonfire and kisses her senseless. It’s just one mistake, and Rain is determined to put it behind her, until the dark haired, blue eyed hottie turns out to be her new co-supervisor Knight Mcallister.

Knight is hot, tatted, and carrying baggage of his own. He’s not happy about having Rain for a co-supervisor, and he’s even less happy about his attraction to her.

But between lifeguard drama, hot underwater kisses, and a growing attraction between them that can’t be stopped, Knight and Rain are being pulled deeper into their pasts, and realizing that sometimes too much broken can make a relationship impossible.

Then again sometimes it’s the broken parts of us that fit together best.

“There’s really something to be said for being alive. Being wholly alive, and allowing yourself to be human and imperfect and lovable. It’s what makes life worthwhile. That sacrifice we make when we love someone. That risk we take when we give our hearts to someone mortal, knowing in the end, we have to lose them.”

I’m not exactly sure what drew me to Deeper in the first place. It may have been the fact that I’ve been on a NA Contemporary Romance kick for the last 6 months or so!

Deeper was an emotional story. It was intriguing, with a strong female lead and an interesting premise. Deeper follows Rain Wilson, who is still dealing with the aftermath of the death of her boyfriend during a water park accident. She’s at a new park and one night at a bonfire, a guy follows her to the ocean and kisses her senseless. Steamy. But it turns out, the guy, Knight, is her new coworker, and he doesn’t actually want her there. It makes for a lot of drama. And considering the fact that there is some emotional drama being dragged around, we got an emotional yet entertaining read.

“‘Well, that’s their problem. It’s sexist to say I should dress differently because others can’t control themselves.'”

Rain was a strong female lead for me. She was dealing with guilt that was eating her up over the death of her ex-boyfriend. Although I felt that that guilt was unfounded, there was a still a certain emotional impact that it made on me as a reader. It actually made me like Rain a bit more because it came off as selfless. I enjoyed Rain’s character because she didn’t back down when Knight basically bullied her. She was determined to do what she was there for, and I really enjoyed that aspect of her personality. She didn’t take anyone’s crap.

“My eyes find Knight and he smiles at me complacently. He folds his arms and tilts his head. He’s waiting for me to slip up, waiting for an excuse to get me fired. I’m good enough to molest in the water but not good enough to be his equal.”

Knight was moody and, of course, carrying baggage of his own. I guess I liked Knight, but not as much as I enjoyed Rain. He was kind of a jerk at the beginning with no explanation until after the fact, so it was kind of off-putting and affected my view of his character for the duration of the novel.

“‘You knew this would happen.’ ‘No.’ I shake my head, even though I know he’s right. There’s been this magnetic tension between us, pulling me ever closer to him, and now that he’s here, so close, so focused, it feels right. He leans in until his mouth brushes my ear. ‘You and I, Rain. You and I are inevitable.'”

The romance in this novel was steamy, as in any other NA contemporary romance out there. That being said, it wasn’t really anything special. Rain and Knight balanced each other out well, but at some points, really pulled each other down. I’m not sure that I would say that they were the perfect couple, which in reality, made me like them a bit more because it was a more realistic relationship. They had their fair share of bumps along the road. But boy were some scenes swoony! For example: underwater kisses? Yes please.

Deeper was a good NA contemporary romance. I thought that it wasn’t necessarily fulfilling of the common NA Contemporary trope—although it hit some aspects of the “norm”: damaged characters, steamy romance, etc., I thought that the death of the ex and the lifeguarding aspect made it more interesting of a read, setting it out of the boring category. Overall, I would say it was a pretty good read!